Indie Folk Circuit

This is the guide to the circuit: it defines what the indie folk circuit is, breaks it into the festivals and the touring loops, and points at the places and the formats a new fan starts with.

What the indie folk circuit is

What the indie folk circuit is is the standing network of shows that the folk and the jam artists play, and it is the live end of the small label scene. The circuit has 3 parts: the festivals, the touring loops, and the venues. The festivals are the multi day events that gather the artists in one place, the touring loops are the routes the artist plays through a region over a week or two, and the venues are the clubs and the halls that host the single night shows. The circuit is where the music the small label releases and distributes is heard live, and it is the place the fan follows to keep up with the scene. The 3 parts are the circuit, and they run together through the year, with the festivals at the center and the loops and the venues around them.

The festivals at the center of the circuit

The festivals at the center of the circuit are the multi day events that define the season, and the indie folk festival is the one the scene builds around. A folk festival is a 2 or 3 day event built on the solo and the duo act, with 2 or 3 stages and a set list of 30 to 50 artists over the days, and it is the format that suits the singer songwriter and the folk the scene carries. The jam festival is the other center, and it is the multi day event built on the long form live set, with the audience there for the 40 minute solo and the full show. The festivals are where the circuit gathers, and the small label scene releases the records the festival artists make, so the listener who finds an artist at the festival can buy the record from the label that signed them. The festival is the anchor of the circuit, and it is the event a new fan should see first.

The touring loops and the venues

The touring loops and the venues are the parts of the circuit that run between the festivals, and they are how the artist stays in front of the audience through the year. A touring loop is a route the artist plays through a region, a 10 or 15 city run over a week or two, and it is the format that carries the folk and the jam artist from the festival back to the clubs. The venues are the clubs and the halls that host the single night shows, and they run from the 200 capacity folk club to the 2,000 capacity hall that hosts the bigger act. The loop and the venue are the everyday of the circuit, and they are where the scene plays when it is not at the festival. The small label scene releases and distributes the music the loop artists make, and the venues are the rooms where the listener meets it.

The special formats of the circuit

The special formats of the circuit are the events that sit outside the festival and the loop, and they are the ones a fan remembers. The jam cruise is one of them, the multi day show at sea where the audience spends 4 or 5 nights on a ship with a lineup of the jam artists, and it is the format the circuit built for the jam audience. The destination show is the other, the event held in a place the audience travels to, and the jam band shows in the Virgin Islands are an example of the format, where the audience flies to the island for the weekend of shows. The special formats are the ends of the circuit, and they are where the scene plays its most dedicated audience. The cruise and the destination show are covered on their own pages, and they are part of the same circuit this page maps.

Where to start following the circuit

Where to start following the circuit is the festival, and it is the single best place for a new fan to meet the scene. The festival puts the whole circuit in one place over 2 or 3 days, and the fan who sees it once has a map of the artists and the loops and the venues the circuit runs through. The next step is to follow one artist from the festival, to see the touring loop the artist plays, and to buy the record from the small label that signed them. The 3 steps are the festival, the loop, and the record, and they are the path a new fan takes through the circuit. The circuit is the live side of the small label scene, and the scene releases and distributes the music the circuit plays, which is the role this page describes.

Where to start

1. JAM BAND CRUISEJam Band CruisesJam band cruises are the multi day shows at sea where an audience of jam fans spends 4 or 5 nights on a ship with a lineup of the jam artists.2. JAM BAND VIRGIN ISLANDSJam Bands in the Virgin IslandsJam band shows in the Virgin Islands are the destination events where an audience of jam fans travels to the island for a weekend of shows.

Other sections

FOLKIndie Folk MusicIndie folk is a branch of independent music in which the singer-songwriter tradition of the 1960s folk revival is rebuilt on the small-label.JAMWhat Is a Jam BandA jam band is a group that builds its music around long live improvisation, taking a song written in the studio and opening it up on stage into 10.BLUES & ROCKWhat blues rock music really isBlues rock is a genre that takes the 12 bar blues structure and the call and response phrasing of the blues and plays it through an amplified electric.SINGER-SONGWRITERSinger-Songwriter ArtistsSinger songwriter is a style of independent music in which one person writes, sings, and plays their own songs.WORLDWorld music songs worth hearingWorld music is a song that comes from a tradition outside the Western pop and rock mainstream, and the term covers the folk.LABELSIndependent record labelsAn independent record label is a company that releases and distributes music without the backing of one of the 4 major groups.DISTRIBUTIONHow small labels distribute musicSmall label distribution is the set of channels a small independent label uses to get its music into the stores, the streaming platforms.FORMATSWorld music CDsA world music CD is a compact disc that carries the world music the small label scene releases and distributes.